Most restaurants and cafes have signs in staff bathrooms that remind employees to wash their hands before returning to the kitchen, but how well they actually wash their hands is unknown. It’s not uncommon for people to take short-cuts and wash their hands to a less than adequate standard, leading to a range of potential health issues.
Data from the Center for Disease Control in the US states 48 million people get sick from foodborne diseases every year in America alone. Of these, 128,000 individuals are hospitalised and 3,000 die. A single incident of sickness caused by food could potentially cost restaurants thousands of dollars.
To help restaurant owners and employers monitor hygiene, PathSpot developed a scanner that uses visible fluorescent spectroscopy to check hands for any pathogens that potentially carry foodborne illnesses. The aim is that employees will hold their hands under the device after washing their hands and see any areas that need to be cleaned more thoroughly.
PathSpot can detect contaminants present that aren’t visible to the naked eye and checks for 98 percent of foodborne illness types such as E.Coli, Salmonella, Norovirus, Hep A, Listeria and multiple others. The device that shines a purple light displays a red X if contaminants around found. Data is collected by the machine and is sent it to restaurant management to determine where they may be falling short in their hygiene and sanitation procedures.
